Raczko sucks....

I think I heard Webb in an interview say that he went back to Raczko because he is more comfortable with him. I'm thinking he is a bit too comfortable and needs a coach that will force him to do the things that will make him win.

Maybe Raczko fit his needs in high school, but when Pre graduated high school he moved on to a different/more experienced coach. KnowhatImean?

Let's settle down just a bit.

What happened to Webb last year? He had a great cross season but then got injured indoors... His achilles, right? I know a number of people who have similar problems with indoor track running injuries. The tight turns of the indoor track can wreck havoc on the human body. That achilles injury destroyed his base training and made him look surprisingly human during last year's outdoor season. Maybe he really isn't doing that much speed work yet. Maybe this is te tail end of his base builing phase. Remember, during high school he was doing plenty of speed work to run the 400 as fast as he did.

So, looking at Webb's recent history (the indoor injury, shitty outdoor season), what are his goals for this indoor season?

1. Not get injured.

2. Get in a few races to get his confidence back. [I think everyone will agree that Webb looks un-Webbish right now. Lack of confidence?]

I think Webb and Raczko are doing just fine. Webb is having a sub-par (but very similar to his indoors season of his senior year of high school) but respectable season - for someone coming back from a year plagued with injury.

This kid is a sophomore in college. Let's give him some time to develop mentally and physically at his own pace. I susoect he will be a bigger force outdoors once he gets his wheels and his confidence back.

I posted this on another tread.

Webb is not running to peak right now. Of course he wants to win, but he is training for OUTDOORS. And thats what Raczko is training him to do also. People just expect that Alan is going to come out and win every race he runs, which is just not going to happen. He is 20 years old and still is adjusting to having to race in a highly competitive atmosphere. Just wait and be patient. Rackzo apparently knows what he is doing and Webb believes (and has confidence) in him. Webb will burn everyone in outdoors.

and

"Maybe Raczko fit his needs in high school, but when Pre graduated high school he moved on to a different/more experienced coach. KnowhatImean?"

-Jim Ryun followed his high school coach into college and it worked out extremely well. Ryun was comparitively a lot better than Pre.

**Yaaaawwnnnnn...** Whatever, bro. It's nice you can find an exception. How many other examples of High School coaches training their athletes into their 20's? Raczko hit the lottery when he got Webb. Soon his annutized payments will run out.

See wrote:

Webb will burn everyone in outdoors.

When summer hits, let me know if you want to put your money where you mouth is. All you need is a paypal account. You get Webb, I'll take the rest of the field. How much money are you willing to let your blind faith rob you for?

where is it that raszco coaches and webb attends college? i just can't remember it.

I think Paula Radcliffe has the same coach that she started with when she was 14 or 15 years old.

Raczko coaches at South Lakes High School and works at Metro Run and Walk, or atleast did, and Webb goes to George Mason.

If Webb runs the same way outdoors, than you WILL hear from us. Being in 3:59 shape during indoors is not a big problem, especially when he seems to be strong, without the speed in place yet. On the other hand, his 7th place Nationals finish was disappointing, as he seems to be underachieving as far as racing-place goes.

With regards to Raczko, his history with with Webb is the 3:53 and flawless training for 4 years, so he deserves some slack/time with regards to how he trains Webb right now.

Warhurst never led Webb to anything close to what Raczko did (X-C All-American status doesn't count, because Webb was already beating All-Americans when he arrived on campus). Warhurst stated for everyone to see how his training program made a 3:48 mile possible for Webb. Therefore he asked for the criticisms when he didn't come close.

If Warhurst didn't toot his horn last year and didn't criticize Webb on the way out, than I would rarely say anything negative about him.

If Nate Brennan ran 1:46, 3:59(very lowkey meet)and finished in the top 30 at world juniors while in high school,what might he have run for the mile if he were to have raced at Pre in 2001. His speed was better than Alan Webb's with his strength being at least comparable. My guess is that he could have gone through 2:58 with Alan and kicked with him. I really do believe this. That said. Has Nate improved since being at Michigan. Kevin Sullivan could be looked at the sameway. 3:39.1 in Hs for 1500m at the World Juniors. Using 3:42.2 as the basis for a sub 4:00 mile, Kevin was a 3:56high miler. So in his 5 years at Michigan he improved his mile by 1 sec.

Interesting to think about.

Brannen's a great runner, but I don't think he's yet capable of a 3:53, with a closing 55 second lap....even in prime conditions.

I'm not sure webb will ever beat his high school PR.

ttc wrote:

With regards to Raczko, his history with with Webb is the 3:53 and flawless training for 4 years, so he deserves some slack/time with regards to how he trains Webb right now.

Raczko didn't start coaching Webb until after his sophomore year -- he had already run 4:06 without him.

I think he might suck even more than Wetmore. Of course, at least his star pupil is making it to the starting line.

So, you're saying that the Webb that we have witnessed the past 9 months is capable of a 3.53 mile, with a closing 55 second lap.

I didn't think so.

i totally agree with you, Wondering.

I just read the run-insight journal of Brannen, he does 3 hard intervall-session per week, in February!!!!

That's just stupid.

Sullivans junior times are similar to Morcelis, Morceli did a lot of easy running(may be not super mileage) an became a 3:27/7:25 guy.

Rod wrote:

i totally agree with you, Wondering.

I just read the run-insight journal of Brannen, he does 3 hard intervall-session per week, in February!!!!

That's just stupid.

Sullivans junior times are similar to Morcelis, Morceli did a lot of easy running(may be not super mileage) an became a 3:27/7:25 guy.

Base training does not mean you simply do LSD!!!!!!!! Do you think anyone who won at USATF is not doing workouts right now. Now please tell me why doing 3 workouts in one week is "stupid." What would you do to run a sub 4 mile in Feb. And it was only one week in Feb that he did the 3 workouts.

I wonder if Teter, Lunn, Krumenaker, Jacobs, Bala, Silva, Kipketer, Bungei, Lekote, El G, Geb etc, etc, etc, are not doing at least 3 workouts a week. Look at the times they are throwing out...and all of them will be running even faster this summer.

Every mid-distance runner is in base period right now...doesn't mean we don't workout.

Actually, my freshman year I ran 3:36 @ commonwealth gamesSoph I ran 3:35 and 3:52 and by the time I was a senior I had run 3:34....so 4-5 second improvement in the mile in 5 years. Once you get to 3:40, 1:47 the improvements don't quite come in the same leaps and bounds. It took me another 5 years to go from 3:52 to 3:50.

Wondering wrote:

If Nate Brennan ran 1:46, 3:59(very lowkey meet)and finished in the top 30 at world juniors while in high school,what might he have run for the mile if he were to have raced at Pre in 2001. His speed was better than Alan Webb's with his strength being at least comparable. My guess is that he could have gone through 2:58 with Alan and kicked with him. I really do believe this. That said. Has Nate improved since being at Michigan. Kevin Sullivan could be looked at the sameway. 3:39.1 in Hs for 1500m at the World Juniors. Using 3:42.2 as the basis for a sub 4:00 mile, Kevin was a 3:56high miler. So in his 5 years at Michigan he improved his mile by 1 sec.

Interesting to think about.

EL-G and Geb start hard speed work some weeks before the outdoor season begins, Silva does one hard interval session per week.

hard interval session means 800m-1500m pace, not vo2max stuff.To be in good shape for the indoor season without damaging your base like Brannen(3 hard work-outs are extremely counterproductive when building your base) do longer repetitons and some real speed work(sprints, drills, plyos, weights; i don't know why people think that running 10x400 or running hard on the easy days makes you faster in terms of maximum speed).

To be in perfect shape you have to do high lactic work-outs but it's early enough to start this some weeks before the outdoor season begins.

I'd like to agree with you (since you're one of the few people who offers something constructive without feeling a need to bash people), but I think you're a little misguided. You can call 3:59 a low-key meet for Brannen and 3:53 the perfect race for Webb, but there's world's of difference between 3:59 and 3:53 at that age. Look at the pressure Webb has to follow-up (even if he had stayed in college) compared to Sage (4:00.09 at Pre his senior year)? Completely different. Six seconds means so much.

As for their strength being comparable, I was at NIC in 2001 when they ran the two-mile. Brannen tried to stick with Webb but lost him after six laps... Webb went on to run 8:45, one of the top HS indoor times, and Brannen was just under 9. Not comparable strength.